all three of those could have been used for recovery efforts. well, it exploded on twitter and facebook and eventually public figures came and spoke out against this. this afternoon, later in the day there were meetings and major bloomberg, canceled, didn't postpone but canceled the marathon. here are some of the statements from the mayor's office. while holding the race would not require diverting resources from the recovery effort it is clear it has become the source of controversy and division. we cannot allow a controversy over an athletic event to december tract attention away from the critically important work being done to recover from the storm and get our city back an track. the people of staten island, one of the hardest hit places in the entire country from sandy, there was relief and emotion. >> thank god. my reaction is, i've been coming to realize that these resources are going to be needed where it's truly needed. >> reporter: the bottom line is the mayor knew there was 350 million in economic benefit to the race, and also thousan